


Sandstorm

by Dance_Elle_Dance



Category: The Hills Have Eyes (2006 2007)
Genre: Angst, Captivity, F/M, Horror, Mine Clan, Mutants, Post-Movie(s), Sexual Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-25 09:58:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4955929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dance_Elle_Dance/pseuds/Dance_Elle_Dance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Getting out of the desert isn't the only problem that presents itself to the Carters, Brenda and Bobby soon learn. (Originally posted on 12/19/11.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sandstorm

**Author's Note:**

> Re-post of my first HHE fanfic. I'm still rather proud of it after all these years. Please enjoy!

She can't breathe.

The sweltering heat makes it hard for her to see straight, but that isn't the only thing. She's pressed tightly between the forms of Doug and Bobby, little Catherine held in the middle of it all. Catherine's always been a well-behaved baby, so she coos without any knowledge of what she had just been through.

They're together, reunited. And they can get out of here alive.

However, she feels the prickling of the back of her neck, cranes her head to see whatever it was.

Somehow, though she _knows_ it's impossible, she feels someone is watching them.

\---

The night falls fast in the desert, leaving the place colder and even more desolate feeling. They sleep out in the open, interwoven together for warmth.

She shivers and nestles herself closer to Bobby. Doug forms a protective ring around Catherine, as if his body warmth alone would warm her.

But they have no food, no water, and are as far from civilization as they can get.

Brenda doesn't know how long they will last.

\---

Upon waking, Catherine is gone. As is Doug.

There's a large amount of blood staining the sand where Doug had rested. His glasses lie nearby. No Catherine in sight.

Brenda is beside herself, while Bobby screams, "I thought we killed all of them!"

_No, no, no…_

\---

They're headed to the test village. Doug had told them vaguely where it was during the night, almost like some kind of sick bedtime story to comfort them in the fact that those sick fucks were dead. Bobby carries Doug's shotgun, though there are only a few shells left. Brenda has a baseball bat on one of her strangely calm hands; the thing was scavenged from the wreckage of one of the abandoned cars.

_Breathe, just breathe,_ Brenda thinks, her mind whirling with all the possibilities, her gut rumbling with hunger.

Neither of them know exactly what is wrong with them.

They don't know for certain that Catherine is alive, but they have to at least make sure.

When Bobby says that aloud, though, Brenda laughs. Haughty, bitter.

"We're some _fucking_ horror movie cliché."

\---

The trek is long and hot. There is nothing they can do but plan. And even that is paper thin. There is nothing they can say, either, that will make them feel better. Smarter people, people unfettered by human emotion, would have continued on the path to civilization.

But civilization is a long way away, and neither of them have the will to leave Catherine without trying to at least get her back to safety.

They realize that this could mean the death for both of them.

While Bobby is trying to get the sand out of his shoes, Brenda spots it. The vague outline of the test village that Doug had spoken about before his death. _It has to be death,_ Brenda thinks. _No one can survive that much blood loss._

_But why didn't they take us as well?_ Brenda thinks, shivering at the possibility.

They approach the place, taking their time. They see blood staining the sand, but no bodies. They think it's because of Doug's rampage, which he relayed to them in detail. Or it could be because of Doug himself. Brenda doesn't really want to think about it. She clenches the baseball bat in her hands, prepared to bash in the skull of any freak that wanders too close.

There are none.

Brenda finds herself shaking. There's something wrong here, something that she can't place. She expected to find this place crawling with mutants, but there are none to be seen.

Then she hears the crying.

She jolts, looks around. "Bobby, do you hear that?"

But Bobby is already running, tumbling toward the sound. He has always been uncoordinated, but the lack of food and water have taken its toll on his body. The shotgun sways in his hands, looking like it could be very close to going off by sheer stupidity.

Brenda doesn't think twice and begins to follow him, surprising herself by being just as wobbly and frayed as Bobby. She feels like a newborn deer, stumbling through the sand and trying to escape whatever it was that was following her.

They get to the house they deem as the source of the unholy sound. Bobby looks back at Brenda, nods, and slowly opens the door. It creaks, which causes the both of them to wince.

The crying is louder then, seeming to crack their very bones with the intensity of it. Now that they are closer, they can hear that there are at least three people making the sound. The seem like they are varied in age. Bobby grasps Brenda's wrist and leads them into the house.

Blood is everywhere, staining the walls and floor. The air smells like death and decay, mixed with the heat and sand of the desert.

They finally find the right room - and immediately wish they hadn't.

A big bald woman is lying in front of a television set, her body beaten beyond recognition. Head crushed in. Two children are sitting near her, screaming and crying and wishing for something that is impossible - for the woman to be alive.

However, in the large woman's arms rests Catherine.

Brenda exclaims Catherine's name and launches herself forward. She thinks nothing of the thing that could have done this, thinks nothing of the fact that they could still be there.

This is her first mistake.

A creature, as mottled and bumpy as the sheer cliffs and rock faces around the desert, comes out of the corner of the room. Bobby screams for Brenda, but she doesn't hear it. The mutant has already knocked Brenda unconscious, leaving Bobby to stand and stare. The thing smirks and licks the corner of his mouth with a blackened tongue. Bobby screams and attacks, only to get knocked out himself before he even gets near the creature.

Even more disgusting than the rock-looking mutant, a man with sparse patches of hair, a gut, and a mean disposition comes out from his own corner, the leg of a chair in his hand. He grunts at his partner, who gathers Brenda in his arms. The larger man takes Bobby. Yet another mutant, a woman, appears and takes the baby and the two children, leaving the bald woman to rot, uninterested in whatever she may provide.

The three head off to the mountains.

\---

Brenda wakes up to the dripping of tepid water and the stale air of a confined space.

There's arguing in the background. She's laying on a gross bed, dirtied with blood and muck. She cringes as she rises up, feeling the back of her head and finding dried blood there. Her vision is blurry and she can't figure out where she is or how she got there. The stench around her makes it so she has to fight to keep from retching.

"She's useless to us! This…can't be!"

"We can make use of her after. So what? We can raise it as if it were one of ours."

"You are an _idiot_!"

There's the sound of flesh hitting flesh, the silence of shock and embarrassment following the brutality. Brenda finds herself wincing.

"She's up."

She tenses, readying herself for more torture. Her breaths are coming out in harsh, rapid movements. She thinks that it's only one of the freaks coming to get her, by the sound of the heavy footsteps. Brenda glances up from where she had buried her head in the awful smelling sheets. In her shock, she finds that there are two of them - a big, burly looking mutant that was even uglier than the ones that attacked her family, and a slender and tall mutant the color and texture of New Mexico's rocks.

She's shaking, more than she wants to show, but she can't help it. Terrified, in a place where no one can find her, in a place that she knows nothing about. Immediately, she expects to die here.

"Don't worry, bitch," the stout one says. "We ain't gonna touch you."

The tall one looks at the larger one with reverence, almost as if looking at a leader.

"You got Lizard's stench all over you."

She's trembling so hard that it's difficult to breathe. She stares at the two of them and wonders what her chances are of incapacitating them and leaving, before she remembers.

"Where's Catherine? And Bobby!" she shouts at them, suddenly unconcerned for her own well-being. "Tell me where they are."

"Who are you talking about?" the thin one speaks up for once.

"The boy…" the large one drawls out. "He's here. With Gretel." A smirk crosses his features before he drops down beside Brenda and leers in her face. "As for the little girl, don't worry about her," he places a hand on her belly, "you'll have your own to deal with soon."

Brenda feels cold all over, despite the heat in the room. "What did you… _what did you do to me_!"

"Easy, bitch," the leader snaps. "We ain't done shit to you."

"Then…how… _what_?"

"Lizard. You have Lizard's stench all over you." The tall one moves closer, and Brenda finds that she's pushing herself as hard as she can against the mattress, as if to sink into the very fabric and dissolve away. "Hansel checked you out. You are pregnant."

"We ain't touched you," the fatter one takes over, moving in a hostile manner to push the tall one away from her. "Yet."

A chill runs down Brenda's spine.

"Soon as Lizard's spawn is out of you, you're fair game." The fat one rises and moves over to the door. "Tie her up, Chameleon."

The door slams behind him. Brenda immediately tries to get off the bed and is pushed down harshly onto the mattress. She starts crying despite herself, images flashing through her mind of this Lizard person. She now knows his name, and she's not sure if that's a relief or a burden. She thinks it's the latter, because now the name is on loop in her mind.

_Lizard, Lizard, Lizard…_

The mutant now attending to her ties her hands together and then fastens them to the bedpost. She tries to kick him, but he just takes her ankles in his hands and presses them down on the bed.

"No."

For a moment, Brenda is stunned, and then she becomes enraged. " _No_? I'm not your damn dog!"

He blinks lazily at her, presses her legs against the mattress even harder. She winces.

"If you do this, Hades might have to come in and discipline you," he says. There is no mistaking what _discipline_ means to these creatures. "He is rarely deterred by things others find… _disgusting_."

There is a strange thing about this mutant. _Chameleon,_ if her memory is correct. He speaks differently than the other one. He is submissive to the leader, following orders, but only because he has to.

"Who's Hades?" she finds herself asking.

"The guy that was in here with me before," he says before rising. "It would be in you best interest to not get on his bad side."

"Where's Catherine?" she pleads, a lost ditch effort in getting some information out of this creature.

"With Hansel. As are the two other children."

"Hansel…"

"…is no threat. He is soft-hearted, unable to partake in what we must do."

"What…must you do…" she trails, dreading the answer.

"Preserve our clan."

Chameleon turns and heads to the door, sparing Brenda one last look before shutting her in the room that may very well become her tomb.

\---

There's screaming. All the time screaming.

It's Bobby, Brenda knows. She can hear his voice clearly in his screams. Telling whoever it is, _"No, no, please stop! Please! Let us go!"_

She shivers in her bonds, shoving herself as close to the bedpost as she can, as if she can melt into the corner.

She doesn't know what do to. She wishes she could run out of this place as fast as she can, but there doesn't seem to be a way. She'd either get hopelessly lost or killed. Or worse.

She shudders as she remembers Chameleon's words.

_Discipline…_

She can hear loud, heavy footsteps outside her door. Wonders when they will decide to breach the entrance to her small cell.

Bobby's shrieks keep getting louder and louder.

"Bobby…Bobby…" she mumbles to herself, pressing her forehead to her bound hands before burying her face in the grime-covered sheets.

_"Brenda…Brenda…"_ a voice whispers, faint and mocking, an imitation of her turmoil.

She jolts, looks around, and yet finds no one.

Her eyes, bright and blue even in the darkness, widen before tears rim the edges.

"Bobby!" she screams this time, before hiding herself in the pillow, wishing that somehow she could overcome this, wishing that she were stronger.

Somehow, she knows she needs more than that.

\---

The morning sickness hits her later one day - one days, two days, she doesn't know. But it's a wretched feeling, heaving until there's nothing left in her already empty stomach. She wants nothing more than to be able to somehow rip the thing from her stomach. She doesn't want this… _baby_ , if that's what it is.

A violent shudder tears down her spine.

Will it look like _him_? With that deformed mouth and cruel, piercing eyes? Will it inherit his innate disregard for anything living? Will it… _kill people_?

What if it looks like _her_? Somehow, that's what scares her the most. What if it is only _herself_ she sees when she looks into its eyes? How could something that was conceived so violently not take the image of its father? She starts to hyperventilate when that thought crosses her mind, when she thinks that maybe it will _look_ completely normal but will _act_ like its murderous father.

Not that any of that matters. More than likely, she will die during childbirth. Either that, or they will miraculously save her and she will be preserved as a _breeder_. The very word oozes through her veins like a sluggish poison.

Only nine months…

Nine months until his spawn is out of her, nine months until her death or her permanent enslavement.

She doesn't know _what_ to feel.

\---

Chameleon visits her sometimes.

He's kinder than she thought originally. Well, kinder may not be the most appropriate word. He's just as scary-looking as the rest of them, but he seems less violent. Sure, he looks at her with a hunger that is only too familiar, but he doesn't touch her. He seems hesitant about that kind of thing, and not only because of Lizard's child…

He brings her food and water. She eats, just because she doesn't have the resolve to refuse it. Maybe it's a thin hope that she thinks she might be saved one day that keeps her eating. She'll need her strength to try to get out of here. Maybe that's why he only brings her small portions at a time, to keep her weak. Not weak enough that she would miscarry, but weak enough that she wouldn't be able to fight back.

He has an odd sort of voice, soothing and sinister at the same time, his tongue catching on words in the oddest places. He is the most educated, by far, which is extremely interesting to her. He wouldn't have struck her as the smartest of mutants by far.

She asks him about that one day, and he replies, "Why not learn? Books are left behind by all the people we hunt. I gather them and read when I'm not out. It helps to be educated, even out here…"

Brenda finds herself hanging on every word despite herself. What is so interesting about this mutant is beyond her, but she finds that she doesn't really care. Conversation is rare, and even one with him is better than going insane by herself.

\---

_"Look what you've gotten yourself into, bitch."_

She starts, rising up from the spot on her bed where she had nearly fallen asleep. Brenda's eyes try to adjust to the darkness in the room. When they do, she has to fight back a scream.

Lizard is standing in the corner of her makeshift cell, looking as cocky and arrogant as ever, hands on his hips and his mouth curved in a wicked smile. Brenda's breaths start to stutter, her chest heaving with the effort. _He's here. But how can he? He's **dead**. Doug said so!_

Lizard seems to take in her thoughts as if they were his own and smiles, _"It's fun to watch you go completely batshit crazy."_

"Get out," she grits out between clenched teeth.

_"I will. When you actually **mean** that."_

"I mean that now."

_"Sure, sure. I'll be back later."_

She blinks, and he's gone.

Brenda huddles against the headboard of the bed where her hands are tied, presses her forehead against her knees, and sobs.

\---

When Bobby's screams start up again - for the first time in God knows how long - Brenda starts crying again.

She can't help it. She does a repeat of last night and begins to cry. She doesn't know why she's crying so much lately. Hormones? No, she doubts that.

Bobby's screams continue for a while. She wants so desperately to plug up her ears, but she is unable to do so.

The door to her own room opens and she tenses, only to find Chameleon there, looking lanky and menacing as he stares at her.

"What are you freaks _doing_ to him?" she shouts, unafraid if anyone else hears her. Let Hades hear, she doesn't care. Doesn't care at all.

" _We_ aren't doing anything to him," he replies. He doesn't move from his position at the doorway. "Gretel is the one who has him."

"And what is _she_ doing?" Brenda demands, her eyes prickling. "Don't you think it would be kinder to just…just…" She can't say the words.

"Not for Gretel."

Suddenly, the weight of his words slips down onto Brenda's shoulders. She feels a coldness take over her body, as if her entire being has been made into stone. Bobby… _not Bobby_ …

"Gretel also knows her duty to preserve the clan."

Brenda feels that she is shaking with tearless sobs, shoulders trembling underneath the awfulness of it all. She starts to scream, to thrash in her bonds, feeling more motivated than she has felt in days, weeks, however long she's been here. She screams curses at him, spits, kicks her legs.

Chameleon lets her get all of this out, just watching her with an impassive stare. Somehow, this makes her more irate. "How can you _let this happen_? Fucking _freak_!"

During all of her screaming, she finds that she can hear heavier footsteps. Footsteps she can recognize. Footsteps that send a chill down her spine.

Chameleon sends her a cruel look, one that shouts, _How stupid can you possibly be?_

The door slams open, and there Hades is, looking menacing. He sends a glare in Chameleon's direction, one that tells him to _get out_. Chameleon doesn't budge, however, only stares at the leader of their clan with defiant eyes. Brenda finds herself trembling with a whole new reason. Bobby's screams are now only quiet mewls and sobs in the background. She wonders when her own tortured shrieks will tamper with his psyche.

"Get out," Hades snarls.

Chameleon stands his ground. "What do you plan on doing? There is no point in hurting her."

Brenda locks her knees together out of reflex, her ankles knock together in her fright. She wants to tell this bastard to shut up, but Chameleon seems to know what he's doing.

"No point?" Hades growls. " _No point_ , my ass!"

"She was just upset at what her brother has been going through. She is over it now."

Was he… _protecting her_?

Chameleon looks down at her and his eyes say more than his educated words ever could. _Do not talk. Do not say a word. I'm saving your ass here._

"We have other things to do," Chameleon says. "The humans that have arrived recently. At the army base. They must be taken care of."

"Right," Hades snaps. "And don't tell me what to do, you little shit."

Surprisingly, Hades turns around and leaves. Brenda finds herself blinking in confused disbelief as the door slams behind him. Chameleon turns around and gives her a stern look. "What have I told you?"

Brenda looks down at her feet like a reprimanded child. There is a strange feeling in the air, one that vaguely feels like gratitude. She swallows her pride, blocks out the light shrieking of Bobby from who knows how far away, and says, "Thanks."

Chameleon looks at her for a moment, nods curtly, and leaves the room.

_"Lucky bitch."_

She doesn't even have to look up to know that the vision of Lizard has returned.

She ignores it all the same.

\---

A mutant named Hansel comes in to see her every now and then. He is very skittish, but kinder than all the others.

"Is Cath - the little baby - okay?"

"Fine, fine," he says as he adjusts her pillows. "She fine. Hades say you can't see her."

"But she's okay?" That's the only thing that matters.

"Fine, fine. Children stay with me," Hansel says, the briefest of smiles crossing his warped face. Somehow, she has a feeling that he doesn't partake in _continuing_ the clan, and for that she is grateful.

"And Bobby? The…the boy. Brown hair, about my height?"

"Gretel has him. He fine. Sad, when I come to see him."

"But he's okay? Where is he?"

"Hades say you can't see him, either."

Brenda fights tears of frustration, but she knows that Hansel has given her more than anyone else in this hellish place, "Thank you." She's saying that a lot lately.

"Welcome."

\---

Bobby's screaming starts up again, and Brenda can hardly take it. She starts shaking immediately, knowing what exactly is happening to him. She knows that this Gretel person must be strong and powerful, or Bobby would have already escaped.

_"I would be happy if I was him. Prolly ain't never seen a naked woman in his life."_

"I wouldn't call that a woman." Brenda automatically looks to the corner where Lizard stands, his hands idly playing with his odd, spiked belt.

_"And you are, little girl?"_

"That just makes you even sicker for taking advantage of me," she snarls, accusations in her tone.

_"Eh, what can I say? At least I wasn't **intending** on knocking you up."_

"That doesn't change the fact that you _did_." Brenda automatically presses a hand to her belly, feeling the slight bump that has formed there.

_"Yeah, oh well."_

_"Oh well?"_ Brenda feels her nose wrinkle in disgust. "How can you dismiss this!"

_"You should be **thanking** me."_ Lizard twirls the end of his belt between two fingers. _"It's **because** I did all that shit that Hades hasn't gotten his fuckin' hands on you yet. Though he **wants** to. He comes in here while you're sleeping, you know."_

Brenda shivers and her heart starts to accelerate. He has to be lying. This vision…isn't even real!

"You…should watch out for me, then," she whispers.

_"Eh, shit, Chameleon has that covered."_

\---

She tries to ignore Lizard after that. She can feel her sanity slipping bit by bit, especially if she is finding comfort with talking to the hallucination of the dead mutant who destroyed her life.

She still _sees_ Lizard, that's no problem.

He is almost always there, a vision of nightmares in the corner of her room. Always opting to comment snidely on how shitty she looks, how awful she's starting to smell, how fat she's getting.

"Because you got me pregnant!" she shouts one day, not able to take it.

_"Oh, baby Lizard, Mommy is going to lose it."_

Desolately, Brenda thinks, _Mommy already has…_

\---

Screams fill her prison, ones that aren't Bobby's or Catherine's or Brenda's own.

Brenda is immediately at attention. These screams are unmistakably _female._

There's someone _else_ here.

The screams seem to be right next to her room, probably in an adjacent cell. She hears a door slam with as much force as one of these ratty doors can take. The screaming never lets up. Then there's grunting. Screams of a completely different origin. There's the sound of things being broken as someone is flung around the room. Screams of pain.

Brenda knows her face is in the perfect mask of horror, and she can't find any way to remove it.

_"That could've been you,"_ Lizard speaks softly from right by her ear, and there is nothing malicious about it. Just a statement of cold fact.

Surprisingly, Brenda finds herself reaching for him, only to find that no one is there.

It hurts her more than it should.

\---

The screams by the new guest hardly cease. Chameleon comes in to see Brenda, and just sits by her bed. There's nothing he can say, really, but she can feel the curtain of guilt around him.

"Are you okay?" she finds herself asking.

"Fine," he replies shortly.

Brenda finds herself putting two and two together in her mind.

He must have brought her here.

Chameleon says, "For the good of the clan."

Brenda can only stare at him in disgust.

\---

She's sleeping when it happens.

There's a slamming of her door, and a rough voice. "Hey, bitch. I'm tired of waitin'."

Brenda jolts up, looks around the room to try to find anyone that could help her. Lizard's figure is staring at her from his usual spot in the corner but she knows he can't help. She watches as his form disappears and feels suddenly alone.

"Cha…Chameleon," she ventures desperately. "Chameleon!"

"Chameleon's out," Hades says gruffly, moving over to her to untie her hands. "He can't save you now, with his damn big words and all that _shitLizard_!"

Hades seems amused by this. "Your Bobby's tied up nice and tight. Lizard's _dead_ , you know this."

But she _wants_ Lizard here - or, at least, the hallucination that has been granted her - and that very thought freezes her.

"Lizard…Lizard…"

Hades grins and starts to pull down Brenda's pants. She's getting desperate now, and she shouts out, "Please! Girl! The girl in the next room! Help me!"

"She ain't helping nobody anytime soon."

Brenda finds herself screaming, wondering why in the world Hades had picked today. She can feel her stomach, feel the bump growing bigger by the day, and knows that this can't be good for her child.

_When had she started thinking of **it** has "her child"?_

There's a terrifying moment when Hades screams. She thinks it's because he's particularly excited by this prospect since he's been denied it so long, but she soon finds that there is a completely different reason for his exclamation.

She looks up through strained eyes to see a pickaxe sticking out of the side of Hades' arm. Blood trickles down his arm and onto the hand that has been gripping her leg to pry it from the other. She takes this opportunity to kick Hades in the face, hearing the satisfying crack of his nose as she does so. She's stunned for a moment, but then hears a familiar voice.

_"Run, Blondie."_

She doesn't have to think twice. She is up from the bed in a flash, only seeing that the attackers are a lanky looking boy and a girl with blonde hair. They look human, but she is so frightened that she doesn't stop to check.

She runs to the door next to her, where she is certain the new girl would be held. She bursts through the area and finds that the girl lying there is beaten and bruised, her dark hair in a matted tangle atop her head, shirt torn. "Hey!" she shouts, moving over to the girl. "Hey!"

The girl stirs, her swollen eye looking at Brenda. "Hey, let's get the fuck outta here!"

The dark-haired girl seems to be dazed but understands soon enough. Brenda yanks her up by the arm and starts moving.

"Where are we going?"

"To find Bobby and Catherine."

"What? What about - "

"There were two people that attacked Hades." Brenda says, looking through door after door for her family. "Tall boy and a blonde girl."

"Napoleon and Amber," the girl says, relief in her voice.

"I'm Brenda," she replies. "You?"

"Missy."

Brenda smiles at the girl before moving forward. "Bobby! Scream if you hear me!"

"Brenda…" a strangled call comes from down the hall a ways.

"Brenda, what - "

"Missy!" a voice shouts. Brenda and Missy turn around to find that Napoleon and Amber are staring at the both of them, blood staining their clothes. "We have to leave now!"

"I have to find Bobby and Catherine!"

"Brenda!" Bobby's scream. Closer now.

Brenda pulls away from Missy and starts to move toward the sound. "Keep screaming, Bobby!"

"Are you an idiot?" Amber asks. "They'll hear you."

"I'm sure they've heard everything already," Brenda snaps. She turns a corner and is face to face with a large, Amazonian woman with a mass of hair that is too dirty to distinguish a color from. Her face is oddly shaped, almost like the child that was described by Bobby - the one that stole his coat.

Napoleon charges forward to attack what Brenda assumes to be Gretel. She screams and ducks underneath the woman's flailing arms as she attacks the rest of the group.

She finds Bobby tied up and dirty, his shirt missing and his pants barely on his slim hips. His eyes are red and swollen, the product of too much crying. "Brenda…" he starts to sob immediately. "Brenda."

She unties him quickly just as she hears the gigantic woman fall, accompanied by the crushing sound of bone.

"Where's Catherine?" Bobby asks quickly, hefting his pants up as far as they can go. She notices the bites and scratches that adorn his body. Find herself with wet eyes as she looks at just how malnourished he has become.

"With Hansel." Brenda remembers. "Do you know where he is?"

"Around here," Bobby says, and the two of them are off.

The finding of Hansel takes much trial and error. They come upon more mutants than they ever realized were in the same vicinity as them, and Napoleon and Amber take them down. Missy and Bobby too weak, and Brenda too pregnant, to be of much use.

The finally round a corner and see Hansel there, holding Catherine in his arms. "What happen?"

"Hansel, we need Catherine! Please!" Brenda pleads.

She half expects him to argue, but he complies, handing the baby over. Brenda almost cries with the child in her arms. Hansel then says, "I know way out."

"It could be a trap!" Napoleon shouts.

Brenda looks back at him with a glare that could've killed him. "He's trustworthy." The words somehow seem truer when Brenda says them aloud.

"You obviously have Stockholm or something!" Amber replies.

"Whatever," Brenda says, not in the mood. And she had actually _missed_ people? They were all the same.

Hansel leads them out through some kind of secret tunnel, one that Brenda never thought would've been there, but she trusts him, so they follow. Catherine has grown so much, it's insane, and she idly wonders what they've been feeding her.

She decides that she doesn't want to know.

They soon find themselves out of the hell that has encapsulated them for who knows how long. The sun is bright in Brenda's eyes, blinding. Hansel gives them a little nod before retreating.

"Thank you…" Brenda says, whispers, to him.

"Let's get outta here." Napoleon supports Missy with his arm, Amber taking the other side, leaving Brenda and Bobby to help themselves, with the baby they tried so hard to save.

Brenda can't help but echo his words in her head, throwing her arm around Bobby with as much force as she can muster, holding him as tightly to her as she can. Bobby's hand rests against Catherine's forehead, and the three slowly make the descent down the cliff face, following their mysterious saviors.

_"Good job, Blondie."_

Brenda looks up at the whisper of a voice, smiles a bit, letting it become one with the sandy desert as they head home.

_Finally._

\---

Chameleon looks down from his perch at the top of the rocks. Every muscle in his body tells him to attack as he watches the group of survivors make their way to a car parked a good distance away. One that he knows is working - he saw to it himself.

_Attack! Get them!_

He shakes his head at the voice, knowing that it comes from Hades and not himself. Chameleon then folds his arms and enjoys the bright sun for one fleeting, rare moment.

_There will always be others,_ he reassures himself before turning to slink down into a hole in the rock face, the image of Brenda Carter seared into his mind.


End file.
